


Nico Is Oblivious. This Surprises Exactly Nobody.

by jimmysdead



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, M/M, MY GAY BABIES, Nico is okay with touching and hugs and stuff, Oblivious!Nico, Oneshot, Post BoO, Short, a few years after boo, nico doesn't understand flirting, shameless fluff, solangelo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7862863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimmysdead/pseuds/jimmysdead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you flirting with me, Solace?"<br/>"Well, I'm fucking trying,"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nico Is Oblivious. This Surprises Exactly Nobody.

**Author's Note:**

> Written at approximately 2.30am, in a very dazed state. There's probably a plot for a second chapter or to put this into a series somewhere, but I'm currently too sleep deprived to figure it out. Therefore, this will remain as a oneshot and as my practice at writing solangelo until I can commit to writing something multichaptered.

Nico, despite having lived in the twenty first century for some time now, still didn't quite get the small nuances of regular interaction. For example, much to Will Solace's dismay, flirting. On top of having a self esteem so low it had to look up at Tartarus, Nico also happened to be incredibly oblivious when it came to the subtleties of conversation. Will felt like he could literally blurt pick up lines at him for a week, and he still wouldn't get it. Of course, it wasn't Nico's fault that nobody had ever told him that bad pick up lines were a thing. He blushed at all of them, but mostly replied in a dry response, as he just assumed that Will was saying this shit in order to be ironic.

"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Will grinned at him, midway through cleaning a particularly nasty gash on his shoulder.

Nico looked blankly at him.

"I mean," He started, "Crawling up from the depths of Tartarus was a pain, but I don't think I've managed to fall off the top of Mount Olympus yet. And even if I did, I can shadow travel, right? I'd probably land pretty safely,"

Will wanted to bang his head against a wall. No matter how many hints he dropped, no matter how many times he looked Nico dead in the eye and told him he was fucking beautiful, he always got the same blank stare and a similar response. Sometimes, he wanted to ask Nico if he was actively trying to kill him.

Nico didn't have it much easier, though. He'd probably say that he had it way harder, because he didn't even have a plethora of pick up lines to toss at Will whenever he wanted to drop a hint. He didn't even have the guts to do that much, he was still terrified about people knowing about him. He knew that nobody would mind, or even really care. After all, he was pretty sure that mostly every god had hooked up with at least one person of the same sex at some point over the millenia, but that didn't make it any better for him. His brain still didn't register that anybody else might be even slightly queer, especially not particularly handsome sons of Apollo.

Nico both loved and hated his trips to the infirmary. On one hand, he got to see Will doing what he did best, but on the other, he always spent the whole time either blushing, confused, or both. Will had been nagging at him for shadow travelling to go and see Hazel, and insisting that he stay overnight to at least make sure he wouldn't start fading. Nico would have protested more had it not been for the wide smile that he was sure could literally light up the Underworld, and the chime of Will's soft voice telling him that it was on "Doctor's orders". Nico could have argued that Will wasn't a doctor, but he didn't have the heart to. Not when he seemed so genuinely concerned, anyway.

Which is how he ended up lying in the infirmary with Will at three in the morning. This time, Nico was nagging Will for working himself too hard.

"You need to sleep sometime," Nico said, pouting up at the other, "You've been awake for a solid sixteen hours, you need your beauty sleep!"

Will just rolled his eyes and grinned at Nico.

"What?" He raised his eyebrows, "Do you not think I'm beatiful anyway?"

Nico flushed deep red, and looked away quickly. He was muttering to himself in spitfire Italian to try and calm himself down somewhat. In all honestly, the Italian was mostly a jumble of curses and Nico reminding himself that the odds of Will being attracted to him at all were pretty minimal.

"I mean, I do, it's just," Nico swallowed, eyes darting around the room, looking for fucking anything to focus on other than the smirk that was currently sitting comfortably on Will's lips, "You're the doctor here, you know you need to sleep eventually!"

"Did you just call me beautiful?" Will smirked at Nico, eyes glinting visibly even in the darkness, "Because I'm only the second most beautiful person in this room,"

"There's only two of us?" Nico blinked owlishly, before realisation hit him, "Are you flirting with me, Solace?"

"Well, I'm fucking trying," Will snorted, "Have been for months, and you're only just catching on?"

Nico sank down further into his bed, in embarrassment with a hint of happiness. He didn't know his heart could physically beat that fast, and he also had never wanted to disappear quite as much as he did in that moment. He wanted to melt into the shadows, but Will would shout at him, and he didn't want to disappoint him, for fear of the kicked puppy expression he would inevitably face when he returned. It was sort of like emotional blackmail, but not quite, because he didn't mind it so much. He knew Will only did that because he cared. It was still a completely foreign concept to Nico, but he was okay with it.

The two remained in silence for a while, Nico just sort of watching Will read his magazine, when he noticed him begin to drop off to sleep. Nico felt bad, since he was the only other person in the infirmary. The only thing keeping Will here was him, and he knew that Will wouldn't go back to his cabin for at least a nap, no matter how much Nico asked for him to.

"You could sleep here?" Nico offered, voice small, "With me? I-if you're not going to go back to your cabin, that is,"

Will rolled his eyes. He couldn't just leave a patient, and he wasn't about the turn down the offer of being so close to Nico. So, he toed off his shoes and wordlessly slid into the bed next to him. Secretly, he was glad that Nico had invited him to basically cuddle since the infirmary beds weren't exactly king sized.

"Hey, Death Boy," Will mumbled, "No Underworld-y type business while I'm asleep. Doctor's orders,"

Nico smiled a little, fondly. He turned over so he could rest his head on Will's chest. His steady heartbeat comforted him, and made him a little sleepy too.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Sunshine," He got out, through a thick yawn.


End file.
